NOAA’s National Ocean Service • Office of Response and Restoration

ALOHA®

A
LOHA (Areal Locations of
Hazardous Atmospheres) is a
computer program designed to
model chemical releases for
emergency responders and
planners. It can estimate how a
toxic cloud might disperse after
a chemical release—as well as several fires and
explosions scenarios.
How ALOHA Works
ALOHA is designed to be easy to use so that responders
can use it during high-pressure situations. A series of dialog
boxes prompt users to enter information about the scenario
(e.g., chemical, weather conditions, and the type of
release). Detailed help is provided with each dialog box.
The scenario information and calculation results are
summarized in a printable, text-only window. Once
ALOHA’s calculations are complete, users can choose to
display a variety of graphical outputs.

ALOHA is designed to produce reasonable results quickly Threat Zone Estimates and Threat at a Point
enough to be of use to responders during a real
A threat zone is an area where a hazard (such as toxicity or
emergency. Therefore, ALOHA’s calculations represent a
thermal radiation) has exceeded a user-specified Level of
compromise between accuracy and speed. Many of
Concern (LOC). ALOHA will display up to three threat
ALOHA’s features were developed to quickly assist the
zones overlaid on a single picture. The red threat zone
responder. For example, ALOHA:
represents the worst hazard.
• Minimizes data entry errors by cross-checking the input
values and warning the user if the value is unlikely or The Threat at a Point feature displays specific information
not physically possible. about hazards at locations of interest (such as a school).

• Contains its own chemical library with physical GIS-Compatible Output

properties for approximately 1,000 common hazardous
chemicals so that users do not have to enter that data. ALOHA’s threat zones can be displayed on maps in
MARPLOT®, another program in the CAMEO suite.
Key Program Features
• Generates a variety of scenario-specific output,
including threat zone pictures, threats at specific
locations, and source strength graphs.
• Calculates how quickly chemicals are escaping from
tanks, puddles, and gas pipelines—and predicts how
those release rates change over time.
• Models many release scenarios: toxic gas clouds,
BLEVEs (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosions),
jet fires, vapor cloud explosions, and pool fires.
• Evaluates different types of hazard (depending on the
release scenario): toxicity, flammability, thermal
radiation, and overpressure.
A sample ALOHA threat zone estimate shown on a MARPLOT
• Models the atmospheric dispersion of chemical spills map (key locations of concern were added in MARPLOT).
on water.
Threat zones can also be shown in Google Earth or Google
®
ALOHA is part of the CAMEO software suite, which is Maps using ALOHA’s KML export feature—or in Esri’s
developed jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric ArcMap by using MARPLOT to export the threat zones as
Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental shapefiles.
Protection Agency (EPA).
Getting ALOHA ALOHA Contact Information
To download ALOHA, go to For additional information:
https://www.epa.gov/cameo/aloha-software. https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/aloha
orr.cameo@noaa.gov
ALOHA runs on both Windows and Mac computers.

Sample ALOHA Output

Some sample ALOHA output. On the left, the circular thermal radiation threat zone estimates for a BLEVE. On the right, a threat
point graph shows the toxic concentration hazard over time at a specific location; the horizontal lines show how the concentration
compares to the chosen toxic levels of concern.

NOAA’s Office of Response & Restoration—Protecting our Coastal Environment

For further information about NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration,

please call (301) 713-2989 or visit our website at
https://response.restoration.noaa.gov

U.S. Department of Commerce • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration July 2020